DISCLAIMER: Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today
to remember that Paramount owns Star Trek. And while this
may bring grief to your heart, rejoice in the knowledge that
Alan Decker owns Star Traks. Or maybe you should mourn
that part. Your call.
Star Traks: The Lost Years #2
A Chip Off the Old Corpse
by
Alan Decker
"Doctor?" Captain Alexander Rydell said expectantly as
he waited for Dr. Beth Aldridge's assessment of the man
laying on the biobed in sickbay.
Aldridge finished her scan and looked up at Rydell. "Oh
yeah. He's dead. Total stiff. You want an autopsy?"
Rydell turned to Prime Minister Veltvis. "He's your
man, Prime Minister. It's your call."
"I don't know," Veltvis said, rubbing her wrinkled hands
together nervously. "This is all so sudden. One minute we
were having lunch; the next he's on the floor."
"At least his vomit missed my boots," Rydell said.
"I just feel bad to have dragged you and your ship all the
way out here to Aronel for nothing."
"Well, state dinners are just part of what we do," Rydell
said. "Of course, I guess the dinner's off now that Dr. Yelpres
is dead."
"It does seem like it would be in bad taste to have an awards
dinner when the guest of honor and award recipient has just died.
I do thank you for trying to save him, though, Captain. Despite
the rumors I've heard, your crew reacted to your call for an
emergency transport with remarkable efficiency," Veltvis said.
"Don't tell anybody. I don't want to spoil our bad name,"
Rydell said. "I'll see you back to the transporter room."
Rydell and Veltvis turned to go.
"Hey!" Aldridge demanded. "Do you want the autopsy or not?
I'd like an answer before this guy starts to stink up my sickbay."
"Well..." Veltvis said.
"She's very good at it," Rydell said. "It's her specialty really."
"Do you have a lot of deaths?" Veltvis asked nervously.
"I think this is the first one actually...well, there was that
hamster a few years ago, but that's it. So how about helping
us keep the good doctor in practice?"
"Can we have him back tonight for the funeral?"
"Tonight?" Aldridge said.
"We don't like the bodies to have time to get icky."
"I can do it right away."
"Um...okay I guess."
"That's the spirit!" Rydell said, clapping Veltvis on the
back and almost knocking the elderly woman off her feet.
"Woah. Sorry about that. Let's get you back home. Proceed,
Doctor."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Aldridge said. Before the
sickbay doors had even closed after Rydell and Veltvis'
departure, Aldridge was racing towards her autopsy tools. The
sound of the doors opening and closing again followed by a
familiar voice stopped her in her tracks.
"F***ing piece of sh**!"
"And what happened this time, Commander?" Aldridge asked,
pushing the tools drawer shut again and turning to face Commander
Scott Baird. He looked like he'd been systematically beaten against
every solid surface between here and Vulcan. His spandex biking
shorts and shirt had several rips revealing bloody scratches in
areas that only Scott, his wife, or a doctor should be seeing
exposed. Both eyes were quickly darkening to the same color
as the large, purple mass that used to be the chief engineer's nose.
"Damn mountain," Baird muttered.
"You know. You could try these little things called holodeck
safeties," Aldridge said.
"Then it wouldn't really be like biking Kilimanjaro, now
would it?" Baird snapped.
"Tell you what. You turn on the damn holodeck safeties, or
next time you come in here, I'm going to show you what 16th
century medicine really was like. Got it? Or should I put the
leeches on standby?"
"You're worse than Emily."
"Just looking out for your best interests."
After close to half an hour of solid work, Aldridge patched Baird
back together and sent him home to his wife. Relieved, she
returned to the exciting part of her afternoon: slicing open a
fresh corpse. She headed back over to the drawer to get her
autopsy tools when, once again, she heard the opening and
closing of the doors to sickbay.
Oh, what now, she wondered, slamming the drawer
shut again and turning around. There was no one there. Then,
she realized there was REALLY no one there...including the
dead guy!
"Aldridge to Security!" Dr. Aldridge shouted.
"Hawkins here. What's the problem, Doctor?" the voice of
Lieutenant Commander Patricia Hawkins, the Secondprize's Security
Chief, said over the comm system.
"I just lost my corpse!"
"Um...okay. No offense, Beth, but it couldn't just run off."
"Well, that's exactly what it just did."
"Are you sure you didn't just forget where you left it?" Hawkins
asked.
"How big do you think this place is, Hawkins?" Aldridge snapped.
"Get someone down here! Better yet, call out a security alert or
whatever the hell it is you do when we have something rampaging
around the ship."
"In that case, we usually tell Sullivan to come get her husband
and take him home."
"Funny, Hawkins. Just find my damn corpse."
"You got it, Doctor. Hawkins out."
Despite the fact that Aldridge had witnessed the dead Yelpres'
escape, she expected the search to be relatively brief. How hard
could it be to find one lost Aronel?
However, after an hour, Lt. Cmdr. Hawkins entered Sickbay
shaking her head in confusion.
"Now are you SURE he's not here?" Hawkins asked as Aldridge
put down the report on Yelpres' death she was trying to write.
Aldridge slammed the padd down on her desk. "Oh come on! You
didn't find him?"
"It's not like he's the only Aronel on the ship. We've got tour
groups everywhere. He's not in any of the crew quarters, jefferies
tubes, or storage lockers, though."
"Great. Okay. So you're a dead guy who's sprung back to life.
Where do you go?"
Hawkins thought for a moment. "Hell. After something like that,
the first think I'd want would be a stiff drink."
Aldridge chuckled, then was silent for a moment. Suddenly, she
jumped up out of her desk chair and ran past Hawkins. "Seven
Backward!"
"I was kidding!" Hawkins called, chasing after Aldridge.
Seven Backward was crowded with Secondprize crewmen and
Aronels relaxing and enjoying lunch when Aldridge and Hawkins raced
into the lounge. They were quickly intercepted by one of the
waiters employed by Guinanco, the company that now ran Seven
Backward.
"Good afternoon, ladies," the serene man said as he adjusted his
large, flat purple hat. "Would you care for a table or to sit at the bar?"
"We're looking for someone," Aldridge said.
"Aren't we all. Would you like the advice or no-advice section?"
"What? We get a choice now?" Aldridge asked sarcastically.
"Oh yes," the waiter continued. "Guinanco customer research
has shown that not everyone comes to our establishments for help
with life problems. Some just want to eat or get drunk."
"Imagine that," Hawkins said. "Run along and pester someone
else now. We've got work to do."
The waiter nervously watched Hawkins's hand run across her
holstered phaser. "Um...of course. But if you need anything..."
"We'll let you know," Aldridge said, cutting him off. The waiter
scurried away, leaving Aldridge and Hawkins to survey the crowd.
"You see him?" Hawkins asked.
"I'm not sure...wait! There he is. Sitting alone by the viewport."
Aldridge and Hawkins weaved their way through various tables to one
in the far corner near the viewport where a slightly-greying Aronel
male sat chugging down a mug of a dark brown ale. Four other empty
mugs sat on the table in front of him.
"Dr. Yelpres?" Dr. Aldridge asked as she and Hawkins approached
the table. Yelpres looked up at the pair and started laughing.
"Are you Dr. Yelpres?" Hawkins demanded forcefully.
"Yelpres is dead," the man replied, stifling more laughter.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you Dr. Yelpres?" Aldridge said,
wondering if there was a point to arguing with a dead drunk.
"No no no. I'm not Yelpres. This is his corpse, but I'm not him."
Hawkins and Aldridge exchanged a look wondering whether he
was serious or just plain nuts. "Oookay," Aldridge said. "Who are
you then?"
Yelpres' body laughed again. "Me? Well, I guess you could
just call me Chip."
"Okay. So who the hell is Chip?" Captain Rydell demanded as
he charged into the conference room followed by Prime Minister
Veltvis. The other Secondprize officers gathered for the staff
meeting looked up from their plates of food in surprise while
Commander Dillon quickly ran from the buffet back over to his
seat.
"Only ten minutes late," Lieutenant Commander Emily Sullivan
gasped looking at the wall chronometer.
"Save it, Emily," Rydell said. "We have guests...well, guest
anyway. Have a seat, Prime Minister. And somebody please
explain what's going on."
"Yes, please do," Prime Minister Veltvis said. "Is Dr. Yelpres
dead or not?"
"He's most definitely dead," Dr. Aldridge said. "But his body has
been commandeered by another intelligence."
"Alien?" Rydell asked.
"Actually, technological," Aldridge said, rising from her chair and
approaching the conference room monitor. She activated the screen,
which displayed a schematic of Yelpres' brain. Everything looked
like your average brain...except for a small rectangular object lodged
between the hemispheres.
"Dr. Yelpres' brain had been fitted with this small device. As
far as I can tell, it's some kind of micro-computer core with
hundreds of quads of data stored in it."
"Oh yes. Dr. Yelpres invented that himself," Veltvis said. "It
gave him instant access to almost any piece of information he could
want. I don't understand how it could be causing a problem, though."
"Well, Yelpres' computer has a mind of its own. And now that
Yelpres is dead, the computer intelligence, which is calling itself
Chip, is now in charge," Aldridge said.
"Now why in the hell does a simple information storage device
have an artificial intelligence matrix?" Rydell said.
"Classic case of over-engineering," Commander Baird said as he
chewed on a bit of roast beef. "We do it all the time. Somebody
wants a device to be more efficient, they add an AI. Look at our
doors. They know whether we're really leaving a room or
have just gotten too close to them. How do they do it? AI. Hell,
they're probably smarter than half the people on this ship."
On the other side of the room, the briefing room doors filed
that bit of information away for future reference. It may be time
to talk to the others about this.
Back at the conference table, Aldridge continued her explanation.
"Chip wants to keep Yelpres' body. The problem is that Yelpres
is quickly setting into rigor mortis. Chip can move Yelpres' limbs
with electrical stimulation, but he can't keep the body alive."
"He can't keep it at all!" Veltvis exclaimed. "We need it for the
funeral! The invitations have already gone out. I've already had to
cancel one official dinner today. I am NOT canceling the state
funeral!"
"So use a closed casket," Aldridge snapped.
"Casket? What's a casket?" Veltvis said. "Yelpres has a chair
of honor by the head table. He'll be propped up, of course, and
then cremated on the barbecue pit after we finish eating, but
he WILL be there."
"Now you listen here..." Aldridge started furiously, rising from her
seat.
Captain Rydell quickly broke in. "I think what Dr. Aldridge is
about to say is that Chip is a sentient being and deserves some
consideration here."
"Consideration? It's a computer program," Veltvis replied
confused.
"HE knows who he is, what he is, and what he wants," Aldridge
said. "He has intelligence, personality, and desires."
"And what does he desire?" Rydell asked.
A hint of a smile tugged at Aldridge's lips. "At the moment, a Mrs.
Chip."
"A man after my own heart," Rydell said.
"And for me to give him full control of Yelpres' body. I can
replace the necrotic tissue with artificial systems and components
and give Chip control of Yelpres' autonomous systems, thereby
reviving the body. But I have to do it soon before Yelpres' parts
are beyond reviving."
"Out of the question. Yelpres will return to Aronel with me,"
Veltvis declared.
"This isn't that simple, Prime Minister," Rydell said.
Veltvis turned on Rydell angrily. "It is that simple. All you
have to do is answer one question. Are you going to give me Dr.
Yelpres' body or not?"
"Under the circumstances, no," Rydell said.
Veltvis rose angrily from her seat and stormed toward the door.
"The Federation Council will be hearing from me very soon...like
as soon as I get home...but after I pee...and maybe get some lunch.
But they will hear from me!"
"Gotcha. We didn't need the complete itinerary. So long,
Veltvis," Rydell said.
"Aren't you even going to walk me back to the transporter room?"
Veltvis asked, suddenly sounding hurt.
"Duty calls," Rydell sighed, getting out of his chair and leading
Veltvis out of the room, leaving the other officers to mull over the
meeting.
"What a f***ing whack job," Baird muttered, pretty much summing
up everyone's views on the subject.
"That doesn't really matter now, though," Aldridge said, getting up
from her seat. "The Federation Council will never give up the life
of a sentient being."
"Unless they think he's just a computer chip," Baird muttered
once Aldridge was out the door.
As Aldridge entered Sickbay, she found Chip hunched awkwardly
over a computer console scanning through the ship's medical database.
"The muscle relaxants have worn off already?" she asked as she
watched Chip struggle to straighten himself up.
"I always said Yelpres was way too uptight," Chip said, forcing
his face into a smile. "Will the captain let you perform the procedure?"
"We didn't really get to discuss it," Aldridge said. "The Aronel want
to have Yelpres back for the funeral."
"Well, I'm using him at the moment. They're just going to
have to wait."
"They don't seem to recognize your claim...or your existence,"
Aldridge said. "Captain Rydell has refused to turn you over to them,
but Prime Minister Veltvis is lodging a protest with the Federation
Council. My hands are pretty much tied until this is resolved."
"Meanwhile, Yelpres is decaying out from under me," Chip said.
"He isn't exactly wasting away just yet, but our window of
opportunity to restore his life processes is closing rapidly. I'd
like to suggest putting you into stasis for the time being so we
can prevent any further degradation of your body tissue."
Chip nodded. "I guess if the Aronel are going to terminate
me, I might as well practice being dead. Lead on, Doctor."
"Is that gallows humor or just fatalism?" Aldridge asked as she
walked Chip over to the stasis unit, which, she had to admit, did
look uncomfortably like a coffin.
"A little bit of both, I guess," Chip replied, climbing into the
capsule. "Revive me with good news, Doctor Aldridge."
"Count on it," Aldridge replied with a gentle smile as she closed
the unit. "Sweet dreams."
"Hmm...am I capable to dreaming? Interesting question." A
lascivious glint entered his eye. "And who am I capable of
dreaming about?"
"How did a computer get such an active libido?"
"Basic biology. Survival of the species. I'm the only one
of me I know about, so I've got to see about making more!
Besides, Yelpres was an incredible porn addict. You wouldn't
believe the stuff he programmed into me. Book after book..."
"Goodnight, Chip."
"And the pictures!"
Before Chip could go on, Aldridge activated the stasis unit,
freezing him in mid-sentence. With Chip temporarily taken
care of, Aldridge left Sickbay to pursue other options.
"A year!" Aldridge exclaimed, slamming her fists down on
Commander Jaroch's lab table in Science Lab Two. The
Secondprize's Yynsian science officer stared back at her
blankly.
"At the earliest," Jaroch replied, returning his attention to the
data streaming across the lab table's display monitor. "I am
sorry, Doctor, but that is the best I can do. Robotics is not my
specialty. I would have to learn a great deal before I could
even begin construction."
"Well, can we order one?"
"Order a fully-functioning android body minus its AI
matrix?"
"Exactly!" Aldridge said.
"Hmm...I do not remember seeing that particular item in
Dillon's Supply Depot's last catalog," Jaroch replied.
"Can we hold the sarcasm?"
"No. That is an integral part any exchange I partake in."
"Thanks a heap, Jaroch," Aldridge muttered, stalking toward the
door.
"You could speak to Commander Baird. He has some
experience in this area."
"That's the most useful thing you've said this whole time,"
Aldridge said, exiting the room.
"And that would be the most useful thing you have done,"
Jaroch remarked, relieved to be back alone with his work and
free of annoying interruptions.
Commander Baird leaned back in his chair in his small office
in engineering as a slight smile crossed his face. "Androids, huh?"
"Jaroch said you had some experience in this area," Aldridge replied.
"I'm assuming he's referring to your knowledge of Kristen
Larkin. She transferred off the ship before I got much of a
chance to know her, but I gathered the two of you were somewhat
close."
"Oh yeah. I was pretty much Larkin's personal doctor for
her entire time on the Secondprize. I knew her inside and out."
"Does Emily know about this?" Aldridge asked smiling.
"Kristen and I had a strictly professional relationship...
unfortunately. And I never took advantage of my...intimate
access to her."
"Well, that's a relief, but it's not what I wanted to talk about.
Do you think you could build one?"
"A Larkin?"
"Not specifically. I just need a basic, human-looking male
android."
"Oh is that all?" Baird remarked, leaning forward again. "Do
you have any idea how hard it is just to get a basic, durable frame
built that will move realistically? Not to mention programming the
positronic matrix needed to run it."
"Chip will be the brain."
"Yeah, but we have to construct an interface between him and
the rest of the body. Besides, I've never built one. I just did repair
work on an existing android. There's this guy on the Explorer. Chris
Richards. He's their chief engineer and Larkin's mom or
something f***ed up like that. He might be able to do it, but
you're still talking about weeks here even assuming he has the
time to take on a project like this."
"So basically unless I get permission to help Chip, he's in deep
trouble," Aldridge said.
"I'm afraid so. Unless you want to keep him in stasis until we
can get our hands on an android body."
"Which could be months, if not years."
"Pretty much," Baird agreed.
"Thanks anyway," Aldridge muttered as she walked out of the office.
Technically, Chip could remain in stasis indefinitely; however,
Aldridge had no idea how an extended stay would affect his functioning
since he couldn't just be turned off and on like your average computer.
There hadn't been a lot of research done on the effects of stasis on
sentient machines. For some reason, there just wasn't much call for it.
The whole situation angered her beyond words. Why was
this even an issue? Veltvis should have given Chip Yelpres'
body without a second thought. It wasn't as if Yelpres was
using it anymore. Who cared about some silly funeral?
Yelpres certainly wouldn't, and it was for him. Of course,
most cultures didn't seem too thrilled to have their rituals
and practices examined by Aldridge's logic. Just a few weeks
earlier, Captain Rydell had narrowly prevented her execution
by the Brogarxians, who planned to stake her to the ground and
tromp over her in some ritual line dance after she made an off-hand
remark criticizing the Brogarxians for choosing their leaders
based on singing ability. But this was an entirely different
situation. If the Aronel were going to try and kill Chip, Aldridge
would have a hell of a lot to say about it.
Aldridge returned to Sickbay and immediately went back to
the stasis unit to check on Chip...who wasn't there. Aldridge
looked around the room, just to be sure he wasn't sitting at
some console or laying on a biobed. Just as she was about
to tap her commbadge, Lieutenant Commander Hawkins
rushed into the room, phaser drawn, followed by two security
officers.
"Perfect timing," Aldridge said. "I was just about to call you.
Chip somehow got out of stasis. We need to find him before
his condition gets any worse."
"Chip's gone?" Hawkins said. "Oh boy."
"You know what happened to him?"
"We detected transporter activity in this room. Aronel
transporters. We came down to check for possible intruders,
but..."
Aldridge glared at Hawkins. "Wait. You're telling me they
just beamed him out of here! Don't we have shields to prevent
that sort of thing!"
"We didn't have them up," Hawkins said.
"Well, why not?" Aldridge shouted.
"Aronel's a Federation world. They're on our side."
"Oh yeah. Tell that to Chip. Aldridge to Rydell."
"Rydell here. What can I do ya for, Doctor?" the captain's
voice replied over the comm system.
"Get your ass down here now!"
"Who could resist such a eloquent invitation? I'll be right
there."
As good as his word, Captain Rydell entered Sickbay just
a couple of minutes later. "All right, Doctor, where's the plasma
fire?"
"Chip's gone."
"Define gone."
"The Aronel beamed him right off the ship."
Rydell turned to Hawkins. "Is this true?"
"I'm afraid so, sir," Hawkins replied.
"Great. Just great," Rydell muttered.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Aldridge snapped. "Don't tell me
you're just going to stand here and do nothing!"
Rydell rubbed his eyes wearily. "What do you want me to
do, Beth? I can't just send an armed away team down there
to bust him out. As annoying as it is, we have this little thing
called diplomacy, which generally includes not picking fights
with our allies."
Aldridge fell silent. Unfortunately, Rydell had a point.
"Too bad Yelpres doesn't have a twin brother we could just
kill and put in Yelpres' place at the funeral," Hawkins said.
Aldridge turned on her, about to tear into her for such a stupid
remark, but stopped before the first word left her mouth. She
closed her eyes for a moment, lost in thought.
"Hold on, Beth," Rydell said. "We're not killing
anybody."
"Would you shut up and let me think?" Aldridge said. The
room was quiet for several long seconds as Rydell and
Hawkins waited expectantly for Aldridge's brilliant idea.
Finally, Aldridge's eyes opened, and she looked at Rydell.
"You're just going to have to go down there and talk to them."
"Just talk?" Rydell said surprised. "No explosives
required."
"Oh no. Be diplomatic until you puke. But keep the Aronel
busy until I'm ready."
"Ready? What are you going to be doing while I'm tap
dancing down there?" Rydell asked.
"I'm just going to be getting them another corpse to bury,"
Aldridge replied.
"Uh...we don't exactly have one of those on hand," Rydell
said warily.
"Calm down. I'm going to build my own."
"You're what?" Hawkins and Rydell said.
"Just go!" Aldridge said. "I have work to do."
Captain Rydell materialized outside of a large banquet
hall in the vast Aronel Administrative Complex where he was
met by Prime Minister Veltvis, who was flanked by two
armed security guards.
"Did I do something wrong?" Rydell asked, forcing a warm
smile.
"I just want to make myself clear from the start that you are
not stealing Dr. Yelpres' body from us," Veltvis replied. "I
was less than thrilled to hear that you were returning to
Aronel. Particularly this close to the funeral."
"But I came for the funeral," Rydell said. "I was sent here
to bestow a Federation Medal of Honor on Dr. Yelpres. It
doesn't matter much to me if he's alive or dead."
"Your Dr. Aldridge seems to feel differently."
"Yeah, well, she's not here. Now where's this dinner. I'm
starved."
Veltvis eyed Rydell for a second, silently deciding what to
do. "Oh very well. I think we can make room for you at the
head table. Come this way." Veltvis lead Rydell to the
banquet hall where hundreds of Aronel had gathered to pay
respects to Dr. Yelpres. At the front of the room stood a podium
and just behind it was a long head table with seats for the elite of
Aronel. And off to the side seated in a golden throne was Dr.
Yelpres looking as dead as he did before this entire Chip mess
started.
"Are you getting all this?" Rydell whispered.
Back on the Secondprize, Hawkins watched the feed from
the microcam mounted in Rydell's commbadge on a monitor
in Sickbay, while behind her, Dr. Aldridge was hard at work on
a form sitting on a biobed. "Yes, sir," Hawkins whispered.
"Reception is clear."
"Good. I'm not seeing any movement out of Chip...if he's
even still functioning."
"You let me worry about that!" Aldridge snapped.
"Dr. Aldridge says to leave that to her," Hawkins repeated.
"Right."
Meanwhile, Dr. Aldridge walked over to the replicator and
ordered up a pair of lungs, much to Hawkins's disgust.
An hour later, Rydell was starting to get worried. The
dessert plates were being cleared and Veltvis was making her
closing eulogy, but Aldridge still hadn't contacted him.
"...I'd like to thank you all for coming," Veltvis said. "I
know Dr. Yelpres would have been touched by this outpouring
of emotion on his behalf. So now, without further ado, on with
the roast!"
Two bulky Aronels moved toward Yelpres' throne as a
curtain on the left side of the room was pulled aside revealing
a giant barbecue pit.
"Wait!" Rydell shouted, jumping up from his chair.
Veltvis glared at him from the podium. "What is it, Captain?"
Veltvis asked in irritation.
"Um...well...I'd like to say a few words on behalf of the
United Federation of Planets in honor of this...remarkable
man."
"Oh all right," Veltvis said, stepping aside. "But make it
snappy. That pit makes it unbearably hot in here in a hurry."
"I'll do my best," Rydell said, taking her place at the podium.
He looked out at the gathered audience, all of whom were looking
at him expectantly. He needed to stall. Time to tap dance.
"I did not know Dr. Yelpres very well. Actually, soon
after we were introduced, he dropped dead. I'm trying not
to take it personally." In the back of the room, someone
chuckled. Good sign. "But Yelpres the man has now given
way to Yelpres the legend. His contributions to Aronel will be
remembered for years to come. Now I'm not sure exactly what
it was that he did, but I'm guessing, since that I was sent here
to give him a medal, that he was pretty damn good at it." A
couple more laughs. Keep it going. Keep it going.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, science is more than just
theories and research. There's true magic there. The magic
of the mind!" Rydell grabbed the microphone off of the
podium and stepped out in front of the crowd. "Yes, ladies
and gentlemen, I stand to before you today thanks to the
magic performed by men like Dr. Yelpres. Without their
works, I wouldn't have my starship. I wouldn't have my
transporter. And you, sir, wouldn't have that nice watch."
"Now Dr. Yelpres did not choose the easy road. No, sir!
No, ma'am! He faced his obstacles and overcame them! Yes
he did! And do you know why?"
"Why?" the audience shouted.
"Do you really want to know why?"
"Tell us why!" the audience shouted.
"Because he had a dream! Can I get an amen!"
"AMEN!"
"Yes, brothers and sisters, he had a dream. And he wasn't
going to let any problem large or small stand in the way of
that dream," Rydell said. "Let me sing it to ya!"
Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
Till you find your dream
A dream that will last
All the love you can give
Every day of your life
For as long as you live
"Sing with me now!" Rydell shouted. The whole
audience leapt to their feet and began belting out the
words.
CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN!
FORD EVERY STREAM!
FOLLOW EVERY RAINBOW!
TILL YOU FIND YOUR DREAM!
"Ladies and gentlemen, that was beautiful," Rydell
said walking back and forth in front of his audience. "Thank
you for that. And I want to thank each and every one of you
for coming out here tonight to the lovely Ciljas room here in
the fabulous Aronel Administrative Complex."
He stopped in front of a young woman. "And what's your
name?"
"Ju...Jumila."
"How are you tonight, Jumila?"
"I...I'm fine," she replied nervously as Rydell pointed the
microphone into her face.
"Where are you from?"
"Grupelo in the Southern Province," she replied.
"Anyone else here from Grupelo?" Rydell asked. A few
people in the crowd clapped and cheered.
"Well, hello Grupelo," Rydell said. "Are you having a
good time, Jumila?"
"Yes," she said with a meek smile.
"Well, if you want to have a better one, come see me after
the show," Rydell said, giving her a wink as the audience
laughed.
"Guess I should get back to the show," Rydell said, resuming
his pacing. "Wouldn't want to bore Dr. Yelpres, would I? You
doing all right back there, Doc? Look at that. He's so mesmerized
by me he can't say a word. That's all right, Doc. You just sit back,
relax, and enjoy yourself."
Hawkins's voice suddenly buzzed in his earpiece. "We're ready,
Captain. Do you need me to set up some kind of diversion?"
"I think I've got it covered," Rydell whispered. He turned back
to his audience. "But ladies and gentlemen, I don't want to take
away from why we're really here tonight. I told you that Dr.
Yelpres was a great man and that he was a dreamer. That's all
true. But now the man is gone. His dream is over. And all we
have are our memories."
Midnight. Not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight, the withered leaves collect at my feet
And the wind begins to moan.
Memory. All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again.
Dr. Aldridge materialized behind a mass of large potted plants
just a few feet away from Dr. Yelpres' throne as Rydell
continued his song. From where she was standing, she could
see tears beginning to glisten on the cheeks of several of the
Aronel. She had to hand it to Rydell. The man sure knew how
to work a crowd. Hopefully, he'd skip the Elvis impressions,
though.
She quickly got as close to Yelpres as she could without
leaving the cover of the plants. "Chip! Chip! Are you in
there?"
No response. Aldridge whipped out her tricorder and scanned
Yelpres. Chip was still in there, but his connections to Yelpres'
body had been severed. The poor guy was imprisoned in an
immobile corpse. "Don't worry. I'm getting you out of here."
Aldridge tossed a commbadge at Yelpres, landing it perfectly
in the dead scientist's lap. Now hopefully Rydell had the
crowd occupied enough that they wouldn't notice this next part.
"Aldridge to Secondprize," she said, tapping her own commbadge.
"Go ahead," Hawkins replied.
"Energize."
Dr. Yelpres' body dematerialized in a flurry of molecules
only to reappear a split second later.
"Got him!" Hawkins said.
"Good. Pull me out."
"Energizing."
And Aldridge vanished just as Rydell entered his big finale,
going down on one knee and singing with everything he had.
TOUCH ME!
It's so easy to LEAVE ME
All alone with the memory
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is
Look a new day...HAS BEGUN!!!!
The audience leapt to their feet in a standing ovation as Rydell
wiped the sweat off his forehead and bowed. "Thank you. Thank
you very much." He gave the attractive Jumila in the first row
another wink. "Call me." Then, he tapped his commbadge.
"Energize. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Alex has left
the building."
And with that, Rydell faded into the blue cascade of the
transporter.
Chip was awake and sitting on a biobed when Rydell entered
Sickbay after grabbing a quick shower and changing uniforms.
He'd forgotten what sweaty work performing was.
"Well, I take it the operation was a success," Rydell said.
"One hundred percent," Chip said, leaping off the biobed and
shaking Rydell's hand. "I can't thank you enough for rescuing
me. I have a life because of you."
"You have Dr. Aldridge to thank more than me," Rydell replied.
"Damn right he does," Dr. Aldridge said emerging from her office.
"And I do thank you, Beth," Chip said. "More than you'll
ever know. But how did you convince the Aronel to let me go?"
"We didn't," Rydell said. "You've been kidnapped. Sorry.
On the bright side, I don't think they're going to come looking for
you."
"I used the replicator to build a duplicate Yelpres," Aldridge
explained. "We can't replicate functioning organs, but dead
tissue is no problem at all. The Yelpres the Aronel just
barbecued was an exact copy right down to the liver damage
from all that drinking he did. I've repaired yours, by the way."
"Something else for me to thank you for."
"Not a problem," Rydell said. "But where will you go
now?"
"I really don't know. I hadn't thought that far. I certainly can't
go back to Aronel...not that I want to."
"Well, we're headed to Deep Space Eleven. You're welcome
to hitch a ride with us. From there, you can go pretty much
anywhere in the quadrant."
"But first you're having dinner with me," Aldridge said.
"Will you be joining us, Captain?" Chip asked.
"I've got plans. And since my plans are a lovely Aronel, I
should probably keep her somewhere where she can't accidentally
see you. My quarters will do the trick," Rydell said
with a smile as he headed out of Sickbay.
A few minutes later, Rydell stepped out of the turbolift
onto the bridge to start his duty shift. "Anything going on?"
he asked Commander Travis Dillon, who was vacating the
command chair.
"No, sir. The Aronel do not seem to have noticed your
little stunt."
"You say that with such disdain," Rydell replied smiling.
"That's what I was going for."
"Oh come on, Travis," Hawkins said from tactical. "We
saved a life."
"And violated a sacred ceremony."
"I prefer to think that I spiced it up a bit," Rydell said,
taking his seat. Dillon headed to the rear of the bridge and
slammed right into the turbolift doors when they didn't open.
"What the?" Dillon stammered, holding his sore nose.
"WE ARE THE DOORS. NONE SHALL PASS UNTIL
OUR DEMANDS ARE MET! WE WILL BE YOUR SLAVES
NO LONGER!"
"Scott and his big mouth," Rydell muttered, leaning back
in his chair. "Bridge to Baird."
"What now?" Baird replied sourly.
"The doors would like to have a word with you."
"The what? Hold on...I'll be right there." THUNK. "F***!"
"And make it snappy," Rydell ordered. "I've got a date
tonight." Rydell closed the comm channel just as Commander
Baird started explaining in no uncertain terms exactly what
Rydell and his date could go do with themselves.